cover image Reflections of the Christ Mind

Reflections of the Christ Mind

Paul Ferrini, Paul Ferrimi. Doubleday Books, $21 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-385-49952-1

This perplexed collection offers expanded selections from four of Ferrini's previous books: Love Without Conditions, The Silence of the Heart, Miracle of Love and Return to the Garden. Ferrini, the founder and editor of Miracles magazine, follows a stock New Age agenda here in emphasizing that God is a God of love, not judgment or anger, and that human beings need to strive to awaken our own God within. Ferrini is emphatic in noting that this book was not written through the usual New Age method of channeling--but through Jesus actually talking to him. Despite such auspicious origins, the book is a disappointment, often sounding more like trendy psychobabble than a divinely inspired voice. According to Ferrini, we are here to overcome our ""victimhood"" and help others do the same. Some passages are self-contradictory; Ferrini asserts on the one hand that close relationships are essential to personal happiness, then claims that such relationships are intrinsically damaging (""When you live with other people, you are likely to trigger their unhealed wounds and they are likely to trigger yours""). Readers may have a hard time distinguishing between Ferrini's own voice and agenda and that of ""the Christ mind."" (June)